At a glance

• Value: €100 + perpetual medal
• You must be a current UCC Student to be eligible for this award
• Questions about this award can be directed to sefs-support@ucc.ie

The School of Food and Nutritional Sciences wishes to establish two new prizes, one each for the BSc Food Science and Post-Graduate Certificate in Dairy Technology and Innovation programmes. Each award will comprise a monetary award to the value of €100, as well as a perpetual medal.  The Prizes are supported by a bequest from the late Tomás O'Laidhin.

PROFESSOR JOSEPH LYONS (29 May 1884 – 30 January 1973) was appointed Lecturer in Dairy Technology at UCC in 1927 and Professor of Dairy Technology in 1940, before retiring in 1954.

Joseph Lyons was born near Thurles, Co Tipperary, before the first creamery was established in Ireland and was a student of one of the very early classes for Creamery Managers. Interestingly, he had no formal secondary school education and entered the Albert College as a relatively mature student at the age of 21. For the next 20 years, he was involved in various aspects of the dairy industry in Ireland and South Africa, as a lecturer, manager, researcher and civil servant. He returned to Ireland in 1922 to join the newly formed Department of Lands and Agriculture of the Irish Free State as an Instructor in Dairying. When the Creamery Managers course was transferred from the RCSI to UCC in 1924, Joseph Lyons was seconded from the Department of Lands and Agriculture to UCC to help with the teaching of Dairy Technology. Following establishment of the Faculty of Dairy Science at UCC in 1926, Joseph was appointed Lecturer in Dairy Technology in 1927 and later as Professor of Dairy Technology in 1940 – being the first Professor of Dairy Technology at UCC. During the early years of the Faculty of Dairy Science he played a major role in the planning and design of the pilot dairy plant at UCC and was a very successful Manager of the pilot dairy, which was a large and profitable operation during the period 1930-1968. As an academic staff member, Joseph Lyons was very actively involved with students and industry, and was founder-President of the Dairy Science Past Pupils’ Union. He was very active in the organisation and activities of Muintir na Tire by speaking, lecturing, writing, organising, and as Vice-President, was the chief architect of the Parish Plan, the Charter of the Countryman. At UCC, he was involved in Adult Education and was a member of its directing committee, and spoke and lectured at the various centres. He served as a member of the Governing Body of UCC for many years, and was one of the principal links between the University and the external community for many years.  

Eligibility

• Award 1: The BSc Food Science student who achieves the highest overall marks in the dairy science and technology module examinations across 3^rd and 4^th year of the programme at the first attempt.
• Award 2: The Postgraduate Certificate in Dairy Technology and Innovation student who achieves the highest overall mark across all of their examinations in this programme at the first attempt.